Monkwood House

TL 82 NW COGGESHALL GENERAL

2/6 Monkwood House 5.12.86 (formerly listed in Parish of Bradwell) - II

House. Circa 1580, altered in C17. Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red plain tiles. 4 bays facing SE, with axial stack in left bay. 2 storeys. Ground floor, 2 C20 casements. First floor, 3 C20 casements. C20 glazed door with C19 gabled canopy on brackets near left end; C18 plain boarded door in second bay from right end, in gabled porch with shallow slate roof supported on iron stanchions, and scalloped and pierced boarding in gable. Roof half-hipped at both ends. Jowled posts. Curved tension bracing trenched inside heavy studding. C20 grate in large wood-burning hearth facing to right, apparently original. Original floor structure comprising chamfered binding beam with lamb's tongue stops on hewn ledges, and plain joists of horizontal section jointed to it with soffit tenons and diminished haunches. Trimmed stair trap at rear of right bay, partly occupied by existing winder stair. Chisel-cut carpenters' assembly marks on partition studs. One complete unglazed window to rear of ground floor, with 4 diamond mullions and shutter groove. Shutter grooves of other unglazed windows in right tiebeam and rear wallplate. Originally the left bay was of one storey only, with a lean-to roof; the shorter jowled post at the front left corner is visible, the other possibly present but concealed, and the lower plate. The walls have been raised to 2 storeys with unjowled posts and a higher tiebeam, and a floor inserted comprising a chamfered axial beam and plain joists of vertical section jointed to it with soffit tenons and diminished haunches; this is characteristic of later C17 carpentry. The roof has been rebuilt in the C18, with hardwood rafters of vertical section, side purlins clasped on nailed collars, and a ridge board. Battened internal doors with half-lapped boards, C18 or earlier. Hardwood floorboards. This house has remained exceptionally unaltered apart from the operations noted.

Listing NGR: TL8283525180